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Happy Friday - Big Rig ROCK Report 8.22

New Version Of "War Pigs" Featuring Both Ozzy Osbourne And Rob Halford Is On The Way

The classic Black Sabbath song "War Pigs" is getting a redo, and it will feature two classic voices. In a new interview, Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis says a new version of the song by the band exists, featuring vocals from both Rob Halford and Ozzy Osbourne himself. You may recall that Priest did the song earlier this year in tribute to both Sabbath and Ozzy, but there's another version in which Ozzy trades verses with Halford. "I think there's a version coming out with Ozzy actually singing on that version. In other words, Rob will sing a verse and then Ozzy sings a verse. I think that's coming out." No word yet on when we'll hear this legendary pairing. 

Ozzy Osbourne Knew He Didn't Have Long, Tom Morello Says

According to Tom Morello, curator for Black Sabbath's "Back To The Beginning" concert, Ozzy Osbourne knew the end was near. In a recent interview, the Rage Against The Machine

guitarist allowed that Ozzy was going out with the knowledge that this was it. "If you have got to go - I mean, I wish Ozzy lived another 30 years - but if you’ve got to go out, it really felt like he knew," Morello said. The heavy metal legend died July 22, just 17 days after his final live performance, at the age of 76. 

JOHN FOGERTY: Creedence Clearwater Re-Recorded

In early 2023, after years of lawsuits, John Fogerty was finally able to acquire the publishing to the songs he wrote for Creedence Clearwater Revival from the Concord Label Group, which still owns the rights to the masters. Then this past May 28th, Fogerty's 80th birthday, he made a special announcement on stage at his show in New York's Beacon Theatre. "You know, when you turn 80 you kind of get to do whatever you want. And so I've recorded an album of songs from my Creedence time -- songs that I wrote back then -- and I announced this last night to the world for the first time. Of course it's a present to me, but hopefully it's also a gift to the fans 'cause I want everyone to celebrate with me the fact that I'm here, I've made this joyous record and I want to share." 

The album, Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years -- John's Version, is out today (Friday). It contains 20 classic CCR tracks that he recorded with his band, which includes his sons Shane and Tyler. Fogerty jokes that he wanted to call it Taylor's Version as a nod to Taylor Swift, who did the same thing, but the record label didn't go for it. But all joking aside, he says there were challenges when it came to re-recording songs that are over 55 years old. "It's fascinating because in many cases Shane then had to show me what he had learned by listening closely [to] how my old guitar part[s] went. Some of the old things were much more complicated than I realized. I didn't remember having that much technique in the old days, and you can't quite hear it on the old recordings. So, we both kind of enjoyed re-learning my old part[s] together."Fogerty says the best part of making the album was doing it with his sons. That was such a great experience for me. I think that was the greatest gift that could have happened for me. I hope other people are able to hear that when they listen. I've enjoyed this very much."

In conjunction with the release of Legacy, Fogerty has cut a video for "Born on the Bayou," which you watch on YouTube. This is not the first time Fogerty has re-recorded some of his CCR songs. In 2013, he included 10 of them on his duets album, Wrote a Song for Everyone, and in 2020, during the pandemic, he recorded six of them with his kids on Fogerty’s Factory.

DAVID GILMOUR: When in Rome...

David Gilmour has released the first song and video from his new concert movie, Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome. It's "Luck and Strange," the title track to his 2024 album, which he was touring behind when he performed at the ancient venue last September and October. The song is available to stream and download, and the video, a clip from the film, can be seen on YouTube. Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome will be open for a limited time in theaters and IMAX screens around the world on September 17th. Live at the Circus Maximus, Rome will also be released in two-Blu-ray and three-DVD sets with unseen bonus footage and the full The Luck and Strange Concerts mixed in 5.1 and Atmos (Blu-Ray only) on October 17th. And also available on the 17th will be The Luck and Strange Concerts, a 23-track album on either two CDs or four vinyl albums. It was recorded at select shows on the tour, and the super-deluxe edition includes all the formats (CD and vinyl), as well as a 120-page hardback book, David Gilmour Luck and Strange Live, featuring photos taken by his wife, novelist and lyricist Polly Samson.

Roger Daltrey Altering "Song Is Over" Lyrics In Farewell Tour

Roger Daltrey appears to be altering the lyrics of a song to say farewell during The Who's "The Song is Over" farewell tour. Fittingly, it's in the track "The Song is Over" from the 1971 album "Who's Next." The original lyrics to a verse near the end of the song are "The song is over, I'm left with only tears, I must remember, Even if it takes a million years." Daltrey's live version is "The song is over, Thanks for all the years, I'll always remember, Even if I live for a million years."

Famous Lyric Changes In Concert

The Who are far from the first act to change song lyrics during a show to send a message or make them more current and relevant.Green Day famously alter lyrics based on political issues at the time. Billy Joel updated a line related to baseball legend Pete Rose in a classic song. A line in the original version of the 1978 song "Zanzibar" is "Rose, he knows, he's such a credit to the game." After Rose was banned from Major League Baseball a decade later due to gambling, Joel changed the line to "Rose, he knows, he'll never make the Hall of Fame."

THE BEATLES: Sneaky Buggers

The Beatles were known for tossing a few messages or backwards lyrics into their songs, so why should things be any different 55 years after they broke up. When Paul McCartney,

George Harrison and Ringo Starr finished John Lennon's demo for "Free as a Bird" for Anthology 1 in 1995, you hear Lennon saying at the end, "My name is John Lennon."

For the new 2025 mix of the song included in the just announced new Anthology Collection, it's been replaced with Lennon saying, "Turned out nice again" followed faintly by the 1995 ending. The new mixes of "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," the second Lennon demo on Anthology, is actually referred to as a de-mix because of the use of software developed by director Peter Jackson's company for their 2021 documentary, Get Back.

Paul McCartney says they utilized that software again in 2022 for the 2023 release of "Now and Then," the third demo that was originally supposed to be included on Anthology but was abandoned because Lennon's vocal was on the same track as his piano and a TV in the background.  "He was able to extricate John's voice from a ropey little bit of cassette where it had John's voice and a piano. He could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, 'That's a voice, this is a guitar, lose the guitar.' So, when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had that we worked on. We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI so that then we could mix the record as you would normally do."

Set for release on November 21st, Anthology Collection contains 13 previously unreleased demos, session recordings and other rarities including never-heard versions of “In My Life,” “Nowhere Man,” “If I Fell,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and an unreleased rehearsal for the BBC broadcast of “All You Need Is Love”. 

Oasis Say More Tickets May Be Released For North American Tour

Oasis fans may get another shot at getting tickets for their North American reunion tour. In a social media post Wednesday, the band said promoters may release more tickets as final sight lines are checked and the production is fine tuned.They added these final production releases will happen over the coming days. Oasis will kick off the North American leg of their reunion on Sunday in Toronto. They'll then make stops in Chicago, East Rutherford, New Jersey, Pasadena, California and Mexico City.

Kansas Adds More Tour Dates

Kansas will be busy for the remainder of the year as they kick off the next leg of their 2025 tour tonight. Kansas and Jefferson Starship are in Wheeling, West Virginia tonight and in Farmington, Pennsylvania Saturday night. Kansas' website shows 34 dates between now and the end of the year, some dates on their own, others with Jefferson Starship or 38-Special. Their final show of 2025 will be December 11th in San Antonio. The tour page also lists a January show in Meridian, Mississippi and a February show in Terre Haute, Indiana. In addition, Kansas will be among the acts performed on the already sold-out 2026 Rock and Romance Cruise next March.

Kansas Announces Lineup Changes For Tour

Kansas will still have a couple members of their lineup "on the bench" when they take the stage tonight. Veteran guitarist Scott Bernard has been filling in off-and-on for longtime member Rich Williams, who said in a statement that he isn't "stepping down or retiring," but he is "slowing down." Williams has been with Kansas since 1973. Drummer Eric Holmquist continues to sit in for co-founder Phil Ehart, who is battling cancer while continuing his recovery from a "major" heart attack in 2024. Kansas joined 38-Special on a 14-date summer tour that wrapped up in late July.

NEIL YOUNG & RANDY BACHMAN: Canadian Sleuths

Back in 2021, Randy Bachman finally located his 1957 Gretsch guitar that was stolen in 1976.

In 1965, Neil Young either sold or pawned his same guitar, which he played while a member of The Squires. Now, 60 years later, Young was reunited with the guitar with a little help from Bachman. During his show last Friday in the Cleveland suburb of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Young explained how he found it. “Randy Bachman called me up and he said, ‘Remember when we used to have those guitars?’ We played together 50 or 60 years ago in a little town called Winnipeg. We knew each other for a long time. “He says, ‘I found my guitar, the guitar I used to have when I was with Bachman-Turner Overdrive.’ I said, ‘That’s great, Randy.’ He says, ‘I can tell you how I got it. I got a picture of it taken back in the day and I put it on the Internet and looked and looked.’” So Young dug out a picture of his guitar and sure enough someone posted a picture of the guitar online, and Young, after matching the grain between pictures – and, according to Guitar World, "We imagine, some more extensive authentication" – he has it back.

Young has been playing it on Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul" on his tour with The Chrome Hearts, which made a stop in Gilford, New Hampshire last night (Thursday) and travels to Wantagh, New York on Saturday.

Blondie Announces Title Of Upcoming Album

Last month, Debbie Harry explained that she couldn't see Blondie performing live ever again. If you took that to mean that Blondie was done, think again. The Hall of Fame band has a new album coming in 2026. As part of a statement on the band's website, Blondie revealed that a special edition of the 2023 graphic novel "Blondie: Against the Odds" will be made available on September 27 for Local Comic Shop Day. The announcement also revealed a new album was forthcoming, saying the graphic novel was coming out "ahead of the spring 2026 release of Blondie’s new studio album 'High Noon.'" So the legendary band may never take the stage again, but fans still have something to look forward to. 

White House Slams Jack White For Oval Office Criticism

The White House is calling out former White Stripes frontman Jack White for his criticism of President Trump's golden Oval Office makeover. White shared a post on social media where he took aim at the changes to the Oval Office and wrote, "it's now a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler's dressing room." In response, a White House spokesperson issued a statement to the Daily Beast calling the Grammy winner "a washed-up, has-been loser posting drivel on social media because he clearly has ample time on his hands due to his stalled career." The comment did not go unnoticed as White fired back asking, "how petty and pathetic and thin skinned could this administration get?"

IN OTHER NEWS

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the film based on Warren Zanes' 2023 book about the making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album, will open the AFI (American Film Institute)

Fest on October 22nd in Hollywood. It will premiere at the New York Film Festival on September 28th and will open in theaters on October 24th.

Queen guitarist Brian May joins The Struts on a new version of their 2014 song, "Could Have Been Me". It will be released on September 3rd.

Dennis DeYoung is not a fan of the cover art of the last Styx album he appears on, 1999’s Brave New World. He writes on Facebook, “It was too cartoonish… Tommy [Shaw] felt the opposite and said he really liked it. And so it was… I believed that the cover should have something to do with advancements in technology.” To back his opinion, he also posted visual examples on Facebook. However, he has since deleted the post.

Def Leppard have posted on Instagram a behind-the-scenes video of their performance Wednesday night on NBC’s America’s Got Talent where they did “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” You can watch the performance on YouTube.

Joe Walsh has launched a sweepstakes to aid and promote his next VetsAid show, November 15th in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas. The winner will receive two VIP tickets to the show, round-trip airfare, three nights accommodations, a guitar signed by all the artists on the bill and a “coffee hang” with Walsh. 100 entries costs just $10. Details at Fandiem.com. Walsh, a Gold Star son, co-founded VetsAid in 2017 to raise money for military veterans and their families.

Billy Joel has posted two more rare performances on his YouTube channel. It’s never before seen performances of “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” and “River of Dreams,” both off his last pop album, 1993’s River of Dreams, captured on June 17th of that year at the Sony Music/Columbia Records Convention in Florida.


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